As a senior fellow for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Ted Zoller performs research and advises Foundation leaders on entrepreneurship strategies and programs. Most recently, Zoller was director of the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies at the Kenan-Flagler school of business at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill., where he oversaw its teaching and outreach programs. He is the founding instructor of UNC's "Launching the Venture" course, which has increased the number of companies to spin-off from the university.

Zoller also taught in UNC Kenan-Flagler?s GLOBE Program for undergraduate students and the European Summer School of Advanced Management in Denmark. He has developed venture academies in Europe with INITs, the leading new venture accelerator in Austria, and with the Symbion Research Park, the leading research park system in Denmark. He founded CommonWeal Ventures, a venture accelerator and private equity firm, and is a small business owner. He serves on the boards of several entrepreneurial ventures, including Idea Fund Partners, Southeast TechInventures, and CollectiveIQ Private Equity.

Zoller is a former associate dean, high-tech entrepreneur, and a principal of American Management Systems, Inc. He was founding director of economic development at the College of William & Mary, where he developed Jefferson Park, an advanced technology research park. He received his PhD from UNC, his master's degrees from Syracuse University and the University of Virginia, and a dual bachelor's degree from the College of William & Mary.

Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller challenges Stanford students to engage in entrepreneurship as a practice of action. Based on his research into dealmaker density and network development, Zoller details the power of seizing opportunities and the pathways to developing an entrepreneurial career.

Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller challenges Stanford students to engage in entrepreneurship as a practice of action. Based on his research into dealmaker density and network development, Zoller details the power of seizing opportunities and the pathways to developing an entrepreneurial career.

"Ideas that are not acted on are valueless," says Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller, who urges entrepreneurs to take action to release game-changing ideas into the world. Zoller also discusses the approach of entrepreneurs who begin the entrepreneurial process by defining a need in the marketplace.

"When you have something that is so complicated people can't understand it, you're doing the wrong thing," says Ted Zoller, senior fellow with the Kauffman Foundation. Zoller articulates why teams can leverage a mix of optimistic and pessimistic personalities, and why money should be viewed as a tool. "Money is not evil, it's a tool. You can use it to make your ideas available."

Entrepreneurs put themselves in the position to be lucky and fortunate, according to Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller. In this clip, Zoller asks the audience to reflect on whether they have prepared their minds to take advantage of opportunity when it presents itself. He also explains how successful entrepreneurs make moves at the right moment to capitalize on fortune.

In these responses to audience questions, Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller discusses the transformative effects of globalization. Zoller says the more individuals are challenged the more entrepreneurial they need to act in response. He also shows how young people are adapting to address the needs and opportunities in developing regions around the world.

Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller believes the concentration of individuals engaged in multiple entrepreneurial activities is a key indicator of the strength of an entrepreneurial ecosystem. Based on Zoller's research in this area, the greater density of these "dealmakers" in a community also helps to activate a region's entrepreneurial growth.

Kauffman Foundation Senior Fellow Ted Zoller describes his findings on the pathways young people take that lead to them becoming dealmakers in an ecosystem. Rather than starting a company out of school or working in venture capital, Zoller says the most likely path is gaining a C-suite position in a larger enterprise and then stepping into entrepreneurial ventures later in a career.